Dozens of Puerto Rican Protesters Arrested

S A N   J U A N, Puerto  Rico, July 3 -- U.S. marshals fanned out across Puerto Rico, arresting dozens of anti-Navy activists at home for refusing to post bail on federal trespassing charges.

Marshals had arrested more than 50 of 122 activists by Sundayafternoon, protest organizers said.

Those arrested were among 183 people originally detained lastweek as they scrambled under fences or sneaked onto remote beachesin an attempt to stop military exercises on the outlying PuertoRican island of Vieques.

The unrest renewed a 14-month-old dispute on Vieques, a21-mile-long Puerto Rican island of 9,400 people that is also thesite of the U.S. Navy’s prime Atlantic Fleet training ground.Activists committed to ousting the Navy say bombing at the sitedestroys fishing grounds and endangers residents. The Navymaintains the bombing is safe and provides crucial training forAmerican sailors and airmen.

Protesters Freed — Temporarily

The protesters arrested last week had been freed temporarily andgiven until Friday to post $1,000 bail, but the group of 122refused to pay.

“We do not recognize any moral authority nor the legitimacy ofthe U.S. court in this matter,” Sen. Manuel Rodriguez Orellana ofthe Puerto Rican Independence Party said. The arrests“unmask the repressive and intimidating character of theprocess,” he said.

The arresting marshals would not talk to reporters. HermanWirshing, chief of the U.S. Marshals Service in Puerto Rico, couldnot be reached for comment.

About 600 people have been detained since May 4, when marshalsremoved protesters who had camped out on the Vieques bombing rangefor a year to thwart exercises there.

Fourth of July Protests Planned

Most of the 183 arrested last week were members of the PuertoRican Independence Party. The party planned a rally on Tuesday —the Fourth of July — in front of the federal prison in San Juanwhere the arrested protesters are being held.

Resentment over the Navy’s presence in Vieques boiled over inApril 1999 when a U.S. Marine Corps jet dropped a bomb off target,killing a civilian security guard in the bombing range. The latestNavy exercises have used non-explosive bombs, but the protests havecontinued.